Quetzalcoatl occupied a central place in the pantheon of the Aztec people of central Mexico, but he dates back to a time long before the Aztecs. The connection between Quetzalcoatl and the fall of the Aztec Empire may also have its roots in political events that predated the arrival of Cortés and his army. Among these Mesoamerican gods, Quetzalcoatl was also one of the oldest. Blessed Be. I am the owner and chief researcher at this site. The Nahua civilization, which included the central Mexican Aztecs, almost universally worshipped Quetzalcoatl among their gods. Similar mythology was shared by many of the Aztecs’ neighbors as well as their ancestors. The name Quetzalcoatl comes from this language and is most widely-used both because it was recorded by Spanish conquerors and because Nahuatl is still spoken by roughly 1.5 million people. To these people, who continued to work with the Spanish to expand their territory, the arrival of Cortés did lead to the return of Quetzalcoatl. This is also evident in the duality of serpent figures throughout Mesopotamian history. Quetzalcoatl is one of the most important gods in ancient Aztec Mesoamerica. Quetzalcoatl was often considered the god of the morning star, and his twin brother Xolotl was the evening star ( Venus). Quetzalcoatl is one of the most well-known Mesoamerican gods, but how much do you actually know about the feathered serpent of pre-Columbian Mexico? Quetzalcoatl was the third son of the dual creator god Ometeotl. As for his aspect of Quetzalcoatl-Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli, the deity was portrayed with an ominous black facemask, complemented by an opulent headdress and darts representing the rays of the morning star. In Tenochtitlan, Quezelcoatl’s name was used as a priestly title. His name means “Feathered Serpent,” and he often was pictured as a snake with feathers . Several of the peoples of Eastern Mexico united with Cortés in the belief that he would help them overthrow the Aztecs. Quetzalcoatl was one of the Aztec gods.Quetzalcoatl was referred to as a feathered serpent and was believed by some to be the chief god of the Aztecs. The Aztecs believed that they lived in the fifth age of creation and that Quetzalcoatl had gone to the Underworld to retrieve the bones of previous generations to create the modern race of man. For example, there might have been a Toltec warlord with the namesake Quetzalcoatl, possibly also known as Kukulkán, who invaded the Yucatan in the early Post-Classic Period (circa 900 AD). Quetzalcoatl is one of the supreme existences in Aztec Mythology and a Chief God caliber Divine Spirit. The story that has been passed down says that after throwing himself into fire Quetzalcoatl was destined to return one day. Quite interestingly, in some Aztec traditions, Quetzalcoatl opposes human sacrifice possibly for this very same reason – as the practice goes against the legacy of the gods defeating the bloodthirsty monster. [1] [3] Being a true goddess, Quetzalcoatl is the highest-ranking Divine Spirit there is. In essence, over the course of centuries, the Nahua-speaking tribes would adopt many of the legends of Quetzalcoatl (along with other Toltec myths) and mix them with their own native folklore, thus giving rise to the ubiquity of the mythical ‘Feathered Serpent’ and his motifs in the Aztec pantheon of gods by circa 15th century AD. Different cultures associated him with priesthood and kingship, further complicating his mythology in later retellings. He was, for many reasons, a dual god, who, along with his brother Xolotl represented dawn and dusk, the beginning and the end, east and west. As the morning star he was known by the title Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli, meaning "lord of the star of the dawn." At that time he seems to have been conceived as a vegetation god. Giver of life some Mesoamericans believed that the explorer Cortes was Quetzalcoatl when arrived! 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